Pat Burrell drove in the deciding run in
the eighth as Tampa Bay rallied to edge Baltimore, 7-6, in the opener of a
four-game set from Tropicana Field.
Willy Aybar hit a three-run shot for the Rays, who have won two in a row and
seven of 10. Gabe Kapler, Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria added solo homers.
Lance Cormier (3-3) worked one relief inning for the win and Grant Balfour got
the final out of the contest for his second save.
"There's no quit in here. We're still playing for our pride and we have a lot
of it," Rays starting pitcher Jeff Niemann said.
Brian Roberts hit a two-run homer and Melvin Mora also knocked in a pair for
the Orioles, who stumbled to an 11th consecutive defeat.
Chris Ray (0-4) was charged with the game-winning run while recording two
outs.
"No lead has been safe [with our bullpen]," Orioles manager Dave Trembley
said.
Zobrist started the eighth with a double, advanced on B.J. Upton's grounder to
short and Burrell sent him home with the lead run on a deep fly to left-
center.
Cormier, who recorded the final out of the eighth, got the first two
batters in the ninth before an infield single by Roberts. Balfour was called
on and retired Lou Montanez on a liner to left.
Kapler and Zobrist hit first-inning homers to put the Rays ahead 2-0, but the
Orioles responded with two runs each in the third and fourth frames.
In the former, a run-scoring single by Matt Wieters and an RBI groundout by
Mora tied the game and in the latter Roberts hammered a two-run homer to
right-center.
Longoria began the home fourth with a long ball for a one-run game, but Jeff
Fiorentino's RBI single in the fifth put the O's back on top 5-3.
Mora's single with the bases loaded and two down in the sixth brought in Nick
Markakis with Baltimore's sixth run.
Matt Albers allowed two singles around a groundout and a strikeout in the
seventh, but Aybar evened the game with a pinch-hit three-run homer.
Game Notes
Tampa Bay took an 8-7 edge in the season series...Baltimore has dropped its
last 12 games on Mondays...Niemann allowed seven hits and four runs in 3
1/3 innings, and O's starter Mark Hendrickson yielded three hits and three
runs over six full frames.
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